Adventures of Tintin the Seven Crystal Balls (The Adventures of Tintin) [Hardcover]

Herge (Author), Leslie Cooper Lonsdale (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 041692610X | ISBN-13: 978-0416926101 | Publication Date: October 10, 1985 | Edition: First English Edition

The classic graphic novel. Seven explorers return from an expedition in the Andes, where they unearthed the tomb of an Incan priest. One by one, they fall into a coma. Can Tintin figure out what is causing the mysterious illness?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Seven Crystal Balls begins on a light note, as Captain Haddock tries to adjust to his new life as a gentleman following the events of Red Rackham's Treasure. He wears a monocle and frequents the music hall, where in a not-unusual coincidence he and Tintin happen to find General Alcazar (The Broken Ear) and the dreaded diva Bianca Castafiore. However, it's the act of fakir Ragdalam with Madame Yamilah, the amazing clairvoyante, that reveals the central adventure: the scientists excavating the tomb of Racar Capac have incurred the curse of the Inca. Despite the efforts of bungling detectives Thompson ("With a P, as in Philadelphia") and Thomson ("Without a P, as in Venezuela"), the explorers are stricken, and one of Tintin's closest friends disappears mysteriously, leading to a trip to Peru in the second part, Prisoners of the Sun. --David Horiuchi --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 62 pages
• Publisher: Methuen Children's Books; First English Edition edition (October 10, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 041692610X
• ISBN-13: 978-0416926101
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hergé, one of the most famous Belgians in the world, was a comics writer and artist. The internationally successful Adventures of Tintin are his most well-known and beloved works. They have been translated into 38 different languages and have inspired such legends as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. He wrote and illustrated for "The Adventures of Tintin" until his death in 1983.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The eeriest adventure, August 21, 2000

By 

Elizabeth (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Seven Crystal Balls (The Adventures of Tintin) (Paperback)

My Tintin obsession began at a very early age, I am most happy to say. The Seven Crystal Balls is the one Tintin book I didn't read before bedtime, for the simple reason that it was too scary! Herge was masterful at creating any scenario and eliciting any reaction from his readers that he wished. In this book he created a spine-tingling supernatural thriller, concluded in the second part of this adventure, Prisoners of the Sun.

Seven Crystal Balls has it's share of laughs as well, provided in particular by Captain Haddock. At the start of the adventure, Haddock desperately trys to relinquish his gruff old sea-dog ways by sporting a monocle and speaking in a very diginified manner. As you can imagine, the results are slightly less than successful.

This adventure seems to focus around darkly lit and heavily furnished rooms, places of scholars and thought that can not combat the evil terrorizing Tintin's world. Prisoners of the Sun takes Tintin to the beautiful countryside of Peru. The contrast is remarkable, the result is beautiful. This two-part adventure is fantastic.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mysterious Tintin thriller., December 15, 1998

By 

Örn Leifsson (Reykjavik Iceland.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Seven Crystal Balls (The Adventures of Tintin) (Paperback)

Herges Tintin comics are classics and probably the best of the genre. They really are for all ages,some of my best childhood memories are of reading Tintin or Tinni as he is known in Iceland and I still enjoy reading these books today. What makes the Tintin books so good is they seem to have everything in it that make up a good comicbook,originality, interesting characters,adventure,suspense,great humor and well thought out storys. If I had to chose only one Tintin book to take to a desert island I think the seven crystal balls would be it. The book is masterfully drawn like of course all the Tintin books and the story is not just an adventures thriller but it has a mysterious atmosphere to it which i really like.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sacrilege! The handwritten dialogue has been replaced with a digital typeset!, December 14, 2011

By 

Red Riding Hood (Springfield) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Seven Crystal Balls (The Adventures of Tintin) (Paperback)

The dialogue in the story, handwritten in the original English versions, has all been replaced with a digital font. This completely changes the character of the story. Basically, 62 pages of calligraphy have been replaced with a typeset font. The font size is irregular, which is distracting, and there is a lot of empty white space in the dialogue bubbles.

I would recommend purchasing the little 3-story hardbacks (about 6.5" x 9.5"), which seem to still have the original writing, or if you like the original large format (about 8.5" x 11.5"), look for an old edition from a used book store.

I uploaded a customer image of the digital font to the Amazon "Look Inside" feature for Tintin Land of Black Gold.

Note that the Amazon "Look Inside" images are not from the current edition. You can tell by looking at the back cover. The old ones are "Printed in Belgium" and use the original title for "FLIGHT 714", which has been changed to "FLIGHT 714 TO SYDNEY" in the current editions. Also, the names of the translators are included on the copyright page in the old editions.